Bristol Jewish Community

Bristol

JCR-UK is a genealogical and historical website covering all Jewish communities and
congregations throughout the British Isles and Gibraltar, both past and present.
NOTE: We are not the official website for this community.

City of Bristol

Bristol, the major city of the West of England with a population of about 400,000, is situated near the eastern end of the Bristol Channel and has a short coast line along the southern coast of the channel, facing Wales. Bristol is unique in having been a city with county status since medieval times (it was named a county borough when the term was created in 1889), with only a short break, from 1974 to 1996, when it became a local government district of the short-lived county of Avon. It regained its independence and county status in 1996, when the county of Avon was abolished and Bristol became a unitary authority.

The Bristol Jewish Community

There had been a medieval Jewish community in Bristol. In modern times, Bristol has had a Jewish presence since at least the 1740s.

Jewish Congregations

The following are the Jewish congregations that existed in Bristol:

* An active congregation.

Bristol & West Progressive Jewish Congregation*
Bristol Jewish Congregation (formerly Masorti Jews in Bristol)

Bristol Jewish Cemeteries Information

JCR-UK HOSTED DATABASE

Search Bristol Jewish Cemeteries Database,
including burial records and photographs of the headstones,
and copies of the burial certificates, where available,
as well as a description of the cemeteries.

(See the Bristol Hebrew Congregation home page for additional databases)

Basic Cemeteries Information

There was a medieval Jewish Cemetery in Bristol in use from some time after 1177 until 1290.

Bristol's modern Orthodox Jewish cemeteries are:

Barton Road (St Phillips) in use from c. 1750, with last burial in 1944. Approximately 160 are included in the above Database.
Great Gardens (Rose Street), small cemetery in use from mid-1800s until 1911. In 1924, 27 graves and headstones re-interred in Ridgeway Cemetery.
Ridgeway Cemetery, Eastville - the currently active Jewish cemetery in Bristol. First burial 1898. Approximately 640 burials (up to 2003) are included in the above Database, as are most burial certificates.

Bristol Progressive Jewish Community has burial plots at the following cemeteries:

South Bristol Cemetery, Bridgwater Road, Bedminster Down, Bristol.
Memorial Woodlands Cemetery, Earthcott Green, Alveston, South Gloucestershire.

Records of these cemeteries are also on the JOWBR and/or All-UK Database (see below).

(For additional information, see IAJGS Cemeteries Project - Bristol)

Search the All-UK Database

The records in the database associated with Bristol include:

Burials
- JOWBR (JewishGen Online Worldwide Burial Register)
- Ridgway Cemetery (639 records*);
- St. Philips Cemetery (188 records).
Marriages
- Bristol Hebrew Congregation 1834 - 1990 (307 records).
UK Jewish Communal Leaders Database
- Jewish Directory for 1874 - (20 Bristol records);
- Jewish Year Book 1896/97 (6 Bristol Records); and
- JCR-UK Listings (127 Bristol records - as of 30 September 2021).
1851 Anglo Jewry Database (updated 2016)
- Individuals in the 1851 Anglo Jewry Database who were living in Bristol during the 1760s (1 record); 1770s (1 record); 1780s (4 records); 1790s (7 records); 1800s (18 records); 1810s (20 records); 1820s (60 records), 1830s (136 records), 1840s (208 records), 1850s (220 records), 1860s (97 records), 1870s (66 records), 1880s (29 records), 1890s (6 records), 1900s (2 records) and 1910s (5 records).

On-line Articles and Other Material
relating to the Bristol Jewish Community

on JCR-UK

"Jewish Tombstone Inscriptions in S. W. England - Studies in Anglo-Jewish History No. 3", by Rabbi Dr. Bernard Susser, includes an Introduction that makes reference to Bristol. Part of the Susser Archive.
"Bristol" from The Rise of Provincial Jewry by Cecil Roth, 1950, covering the period to 1840. Available on JCR-UK as part of the Susser Archive.
The Jews of Bristol by Alex Schlesinger (pdf - 1.2mb) - A summary of the Community's history, as published in a fund-raising brochure the Bristol Hebrew Congregation from the 1970s
Provincial Jewry in Victorian Britain - papers for a conference at University College, London, convened by the Jewish Historical Society of England, prepared by Aubrey Newman - 6th July 1975:
- Papers on Bristol, which includes the article "Victorian Jewry in Bristol" by Alex Schlesinger, a more detailed summary of the Community's history during the Victorian era. Also available is a pdf version (2.3mb), which appeared in a fund-raising brochure of the Bristol Hebrew Congregation;
- Chief Rabbi's Questionnaire of 1845 - Bristol Congregational & Charity Data and Bristol Educational Data & Other Remarks. In addition, see data on Bristol in the Board of Deputies Jewish Schools Return, dated 13 February 1853.
Bristol Jewish Cemeteries, which includes a description of the cemeteries.
Bristol Medieval Community
Bibliography.
Bristol JewishHeritage Sites.
For further articles and a great deal of additional material, see the JCR-UK webpage for the Bristal Hebrew Congregation

on third party's website

Jewish Encyclopaedia article on Bristol by Joseph Jacobs and Francis L. Cohen, c-1906.

Other Bristol Jewish Institutions & Organisations
(that had been formed by 1900*)

Educational & Theological

Hebrew School (founded 1890)

Other Institutions & Organisations
Formed by 1900*

Bristol Board of Guardians (founded 1890) for the relief of the poor
Bristol Hebrew Ladies' Benevolent Society (founded 1845) to relieve the poor families resident in Bristol above one year pecuniary or otherwise during confinement, sickness, mourning, general distress, and at the festivals, also for he education and clothing of children.
Social and Debating Society (founded 1894)

* As listed in the Jewish Directory of 1874 and the Jewish Year Books 1896 & 1900

Community Records

Registration District (for BMD): Bristol (since 1 July 1837).
- Register Office website

Bristol Jewish Population Data
1845	300 (estimate)	(Provincial Jewry in Victorian Britain)
1903	850	(The Jewish Year Book 1903/4)
1908	200 families	(The Jewish Year Book 1909)
1918	150 families	(The Jewish Year Book 1919)
1945	500	(The Jewish Year Book 1945/6)
1955	410	(The Jewish Year Book 1955)
1990	375	(The Jewish Year Book 1991)

Jewish Communities of England home page

Page created: 21 August 2005
Latest revision or update: 15 October 2021

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